London Oxford Airport has welcomed The Children’s Air Ambulance and its Leonardo AW169 intensive care-equipped helicopter as a new tenant. Citing its convenient location, enabling the charity to work with its NHS partners across the south of the country, London Oxford Airport was determined as its ideal southern base.
TCAA will from hereon be launching missions from London Oxford Airport, with its high-speed transfer service, and will help to save young lives by working with specialist NHS transfer teams. The new London Oxford base complements the charity’s new north of England location at Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
Housed in one of London Oxford’s newly refurbished hangars and complete with a new helicopter parking stand, TCAA is basing one of its two new, dedicated paediatric intensive care-equipped AW169s at the airport. The bespoke equipment on-board includes a specially designed stretcher system and clinical interior, incubator and extra seat for a parent to be able to accompany their child.
Since its operational launch in 2012, the charity and its clinical partners have completed more than 300 missions. It is anticipated that the new base at London Oxford will enable the charity to meet more needs and increase its missions to around 600 per year.